Tharoor, Bhattacharya and Memon debate BCCI's clout and cricket books at Mumbai LitFest

An hour-long session on cricket books was held at the NCPA on Saturday. But as the conversation warmed up, it went beyond the book covers and touched many subjects linked to cricket.

On the stage of the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre at the Godrej Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest 2026 were Dr Shashi Tharoor, author Rahul Bhattacharya and journalist Ayaz Memon.

Tharoor is not just a Congress politician; he also has his own way of looking at cricket. In 2009, he wrote a book on India-Pakistan cricket, Shadows Across the Playing Field, with Pakistani diplomat Shaharyar Khan.

India and Pakistan have not played a bilateral Test series since 2007 or One-Day cricket since 2013. The issue came up, and the three speakers each set out, in their own way, the wider consequences of what cricket is losing.

Each had a different view on the power the BCCI wields in world cricket. Memon, who moderated the discussion, said cricket needs a "conscience keeper". He also asked whether India is ready to step forward to take on that role.

Tharoor said, "Rather than being keepers of conscience, we are dominated more by accountants, people who count money." Tharoor recalled the late Arun Jaitley, who was once active in cricket administration as head of Delhi cricket. Since Tharoor had worked in various posts at the United Nations for many years, Jaitley had told him, "You should understand that India's role in international cricket is like the role of the United States in the Security Council."

Memon recalled what M. A. K. Pataudi said in December 2010. Pataudi had said the BCCI is not the voice of cricket but the invoice of cricket. Bhattacharya then showed how one-sided the division of power in cricket has become. "This centralisation is not right," he said. He added that India's dominance of world cricket is as undesirable as the dominance England and Australia once enjoyed.

Tharoor drew the audience's attention to how much of this dominance is seen on the field. He reminded them that India has yet to win the World Test Championship trophy. Bhattacharya said that Indian owners have bought T20 teams around the world, so everything is now "one giant IPL".

To do justice to the evening's theme, the three also spoke about books. The theme was "Lines at Length: Cricket books and why we love them." West Indian writer C. L. R. James was mentioned. So was English writer Neville Cardus. Some readers feel Cardus embellished his descriptions more than what happened within the 22 yards.

Tharoor said he had read a little of Cardus and of Jack Fingleton, the Australian cricketer-turned-journalist. When it came to specific books, he named a cricket-related novel by A. G. Macdonell, Ramachandra Guha's A Corner of a Foreign Field and Bhattacharya's Pundits from Pakistan. Bhattacharya wrote that book on the 2004 tour of Pakistan.

Bhattacharya named his favourites: the late Peter Roebuck's It Never Rains (a diary of the 1983 English season), Mike Marqusee's Anyone But England (a critical book on the state of English cricket at the time) and War Minus the Shooting (an engaging book on the 1996 World Cup held in the subcontinent). He made a special mention of Australian writer Christian Ryan.

Memon mentioned Pataudi's Tiger's Tale, Sunil Gavaskar's Sunny Days and English writer Scyld Berry's Cricket Wallah (the story of England's 1981-82 tour of India). Tharoor and Bhattacharya also praised Berry's book. Had it been up to them, they would have gone on talking about cricket writing. But even in the most absorbing final session, the stumps must be pulled.